JanuaryTBR: The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

For posterity, chronicling my experience with this book in its own post. What fun!

For my Goodreads Review, with a slight spoiler at the end of it, Click Here.

And now to my updated Q1 Blurb. Read below.

CAWPILE: Additional Adventures and Shattered Screens

My Stats Sheet Vs. G's Stats Sheet

November 15, 2020

So I was a bad girl. I got through G's explanation of how she used her rating system, downloaded the file and went to town. I didn't bother to finish watching the video where she explains how to use the Google Drive file.

Meaning, that when I downloaded it to use in Excel, I broke it. I broke the stats sheet. Bad girl.

This is why the sheet wasn't populating like others said it did, let alone how G intended it to work. Ooops! My bad. 

Reading Challenges, 2021 Reading Plans, An Updated CAWPILE Sheet

 As I've shared before, I have never completed a Goodreads reading challenge. Granted, this is only my 3rd year participating, but after the summer I spent as a teen reading 50 books every two weeks... I kept thinking I could do better. I forgot about adulting.

In 2018, I read 57 of the 100 I wanted to, and the only reason I got to 47 of the 50 I pledged in 2019 was because of audiobooks and LeVar Burton reading me short stories on his podcast... I made a pledge in 2020 using logic. I determined that I could probably read about 5 books a month, totaling 60 for the year. That was more than last year, but breaking it down by the month, like a monthly goal, it didn't seem so daunting.

Unplanned Blurb #499: Unemployed Productivity

As I am now officially and unfortunately unemployed, it is amazing how much around the house is actually getting done, both in our home and at my father's house. When you haven't a job, all those things you were too tired to do while you were working are getting done. But who can afford to live this way for very long? Definitely not my family.

Reading Challenge 2019 Update

I have thoroughly failed this year’s reading challenge. With 10 weeks left in 2019, there is no hope of reading 82 books... unless I read a bunch of children’s picture books... but really? I can’t stoop THAT low.

Granted, quite a large majority of the books I read are geared towards the YA crowd, but frankly, the stories are far more interesting usually. The stuff geared towards adults... ugh. So strict in genre adherence it’s gaggable. For example, I walked completely away from The Dresden Files this year; Harry just wasn’t Paul Blackthorn in written form. Sorry Jim Butcher. I just couldn’t keep going. Nonfiction is... *snore* what was I talking about again? Oh yeah. Books. I mentioned nonfiction didn’t I? Yup. That’ll make me snooze in a heartbeat.

LeVar Burton Is Not Allowed To Die

This morning, I was explaining to my son the amazing LeVar Burton. And ... oh my.

You see, growing up on the farm, in white German farmer territory, everyone looked like me. Everyone was white. Even my elementary school was filled with white students and teachers. The rare Asian kids in school were children with white adoptive parents. Oh my Lord, the hoopla when the completely Jewish family moved into the Gar Creek community! I didn’t understand the problem. Eliyahu was cute.

My introduction to diversity was found down on Sesame Street and through the Reading Rainbow. Before then, the old westerns told me that dark skinned people were servants or slaves, ‘dumb’ injuns, or just plain worthless. Something just rankled me deep inside about that.

Busy Little Bee

I know I said one of my goals is to blog more, and I still intend to hold to that. This past week has been a little busy.

I spent a shift at another of our local stores helping out to prepare for inventory. I was sick the day after. Then there's planning for the podcast. I ordered The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan from Barnes & Noble, using the rest of my Christmas gift card. I restarted my Bujo and finally got around to fleshing some tracking pages for television watching and book reading. I deep cleaned the shower and been trying to keep up on dishes. I also filed our taxes. I also set up a reading journal where I can keep track of notes and thoughts I have while reading books for fun, for my son and I's mini book club, and for the podcast.

Really, all the little things we do in a day. All the little things that need done. All the little things we want to do. The projects that need to be done to keep a home going and the little projects we do to keep us sane.

I'm also tossing around an idea for a The Feminine Quirk logo. And debating on an accompanying blog. When the taxes come in, I'm going to have to look into sharing the cost with Becca on a few things for recording. I can't let her shoulder the cost; she's in school for her Master's after all.

And of course tags are due for the vehicles this month. Nothing quite like living paycheck to paycheck and having big dreams at the same time.

So this was just a little update to let you know I'm still around and alive.

P.S. The other resolution, to game more? Yup. Doing just fine with that one. Finished off Wysteria in Wizard101. What I love about these games, besides that they are designed for kids, with internet safety in mind, is that every player is so helpful to others. I 'made a friend' a couple of weeks ago, who is a much higher level than I am who swooped in to help me out on a couple of rough tasks. Wouldn't have made it through them without him. Why is it that we treat our online worlds as a community, where it takes a village to survive, but we fail to treat our offline worlds the same? That may be a good topic for a podcast...